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Posts tagged ‘Vitriol’

Karma, in its simplest definition “is getting back whatever it was you dished out,” also referred to as reaping what you sow, getting your just rewards, got what’s coming to you, paybacks and more. I think y’all get the picture.

Karma can also be quite sweet for those who have been targets of vitriolic smears over the years, even though just a bystander witnessing the sweet karmic ‘just rewards’ getting dished out on those so deserving of receiving a taste of what they gave out before.

Such is the case going on this primary election in regards to some fringe, far right PCO’s from the Clark County Republican party hoping to retain their PCO position or desiring to oust others and assist in returning fringe control over the county level party.

A quote from the leftist Welsh politician Aneurin Bevan, “politics is a bloodsport” is often heard from fringe elements to justify their vitriol and smearing of opponents in campaigns. Mostly it seems to now be coming from more right wing elements professing deep hatred for anything on the left.

To them, compromise or meeting in the middle is tantamount to high treason as they seek to impose their tyrannical view by any means deemed appropriate.

Tragically, we see this attitude all too often these past few years right here in Clark County Political campaigns as a small but nefarious group of right wingers seems hellbent on seizing power in our county by any means necessary.

It was three years ago this very blog became a target of this vitriolic hate group and remains in their crosshairs with whisper campaigns, so called “newsletters” spewing untruths or condemnation for having the audacity to allow voluntary contributions last year to help defray expenses.

What we all witnessed during Public Comment at the last County Council meeting on Dec. 13 was no doubt pleasing to former Councilor David Madore. Finger wagging, threats of not being reelected for some perceived support of a project no longer on the table, allegations of governmental bullying that should land council members in federal prison as the former chair of the Clark County Republican Party chimed in how wise it would be to pay heed to those vitriolic outbursts.

I say pleasing to Madore as ever since he was relegated to a minority position hardly a meeting passed that he didn’t hurl similar accusations, even though in a much more measured manner towards the council majority he quickly labeled “the Three Liberals.”

Others from within his camp of malcontents preferred “the Three Stooges” as all seemed to forget that the county solidly rejected Madore at the ballot box along with his vision for how the county ought to be.

It seems a small but vocal fringe element we have seen highjacking conservatism and the Republican Party are very upset. My guess is seeing Councilor David Madore kicked to the curb in the latest election is difficult for them to accept since he holds some mysterious messiah like position with them.

As with all miscreants, someone besides themselves must be to blame when things don’t go as they envision they should and they begin lashing out at whoever they feel is an easy target.

Ever since this blog exposed their efforts at PCO stacking two years ago, it has been one of the favored targets, they actually setting up what they think is an anonymous “Watch” blog site to critique and counter the efforts here.

It is often said, “politics makes strange bedfellows,” coined by American journalist Charles Dudley Warner in 1829.

Of course, on the opposite end of that is politics destroying friendships as well as being the cause of bitter arguments as was seen with the duel between Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton in 1804 that lead to Hamilton’s death.

In our modern era, though, we do not engage in dueling, but with the onset of politics of personal destruction, opponents seek to destroy each other’s character while trying to hide their own flaws.

In the meantime, lines are drawn between supporters where we all too often witness bitter arguments, denigration of each other, verbal attacks with condescending denigrating attitudes.

Yes, we all have witnessed the dysfunction ongoing with the five member County Council and finger pointing is going in all directions. But it seems the problem extends beyond just the friction between the five councilors.

It’s bad enough that the councilors can’t seem to agree on much, but week after week we see the same citizens coming forward repeating their vitriol towards one group or another.

It seems to be a saying widely disseminated today, being past the point of no return. We hear it in relation to climate change, economical woe and much more.

But where it may be more truthful than anywhere else is in our political discourse, both nationally and locally.

It seems that although our political discourse has been brutal at times since our country was founded, it took on a new level of vitriol beginning with the announcement of George W. Bush winning the 2000 presidential election, with the false cries of “he stole the election” heard ever since.

Clark County saw its first full five member council mandated by the home rule charter to replace the three member county commission last evening and as I suspected, it has nothing to do with “Good Governance” or making anything in the county better.

No, it is as I predicted, all about slapping down councilors Madore and Mielke, both of whom are up for reelection later this year.

Shortly before Christmas, they rushed through eight resolutions that even the Lazy C all but admitted were meaningless, carrying no actual weight and as one commenter said, “a complete waste of time” to pass.

Your management of the local Pravda has done more harm to this community than anything I can think of. Your rants disdain and hostility towards those who dare believe differently than you reduces your “editorial talents” to that of a schoolyard bully.

The Lazy C’s Greg Jayne says in his column today, “That 2010 election, when Republicans took control of the House, served as a harbinger of the rancor that has followed in Washington, D.C.”

While I appreciate his editorials much more than the bombastic, vitriolic, hate everything right of Mao John Laird, I must take exception to that sentence. The real rancor started in earnest right after Al Gore lost to George W. Bush in 2000 and has not abated since.

From years of “Kill Bush” to erroneous cries of “stolen election,” Democrats went on an all out assault against anything Republican or remotely conservative.

In spite of the claims of Editor Lou Brancaccio, the Columbian, better known as the Lazy C for their very selective reporting, is as liberal biased as any media source out here.

While conservatives frequently are threatened over comments, warned that they are on thin ice for something they might say, others apparently get a free reign to spew hate filled vitriol against certain people the Lazy C hates with a passion.

Time and again this is shown and still, Brancaccio denies the bias or the hate they hold for elected officials like David Madore, Tom Mielke and yes, mostly Don Benton.

By now we have heard of the sad news from Congresswoman Jaime Herrera Beutler and her husband, Daniel of their unborn child being diagnosed with Potters Syndrome, a condition most often fatal to the newborn child.

Even though I am not Jaime’s biggest fan, she is who we have to deal with politically. But this transcends political views.

With this being her first child I can only imagine her thoughts and deep concerns over the child and uncertainty for the future. She has no good choices to face other than prayers with hopes the treatments listed at the link above are successful, should she carry through with the pregnancy.

I say that because this is one of those rare times I would not object if they arrived at a decision to abort, but that is a very personal matter she, her husband and her doctor would have to make. And as said above, she can also choose to carry full term, placing it in God’s hands. That is her choice.

“At a time when our discourse has become so sharply polarized – at a time when we are far too eager to lay the blame for all that ails the world at the feet of those who think differently than we do – it’s important for us to pause for a moment and make sure that we are talking with each other in a way that heals, not a way that wounds.”
Barack Obama January 12, 2011

Simple words spoken by Barack Obama shortly after the tragic and senseless shooting of Representative Gabrielle Giffords in Arizona in January 2011. Words many thought might help quell the rising rhetoric and unsubstantiated blaming of the shooting on any and everything conservative or Republican.

And words all too many Democrats ignored as their party whipped people into a lynch mob frenzy of hate towards President George W. Bush during his 8 years in office and since.

Words that today many Democrats like to throw back at Republicans after they finish assailing a Republican and tired of just taking it all of the time, the Republican throws back at them.

There has always been spirited discussions, friendly ribbing or heated arguments between people of different ideology, but we used to be able to put that aside and accomplish much together.